By Greg Denecker 
Bluffton school superintendent
We hope you have had a great summer and have been able to spend some time with family and friends.

LIST OF PERMANENT IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS 
AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS STORY - 

On Monday, Aug. 31, we welcomed approximately 1,190 students into our district; this is an increase of nearly 50 students from last year’s opening day.  We are excited for the new school year and look forward to the learning opportunities with our students.     

New staff members

The new year brings new staff members to our district.  Due to the retirement of Susan McKinley and the implementation of all-day kindergarten, three kindergarten teachers have been hired.  These new employees are Amy Butte, Kim Fritsch, and Emily Warner. 

Because of increased class sizes in the middle school, third-grade teacher Janelle Bogart has moved to the middle school to teach social studies and language arts.  Sarah Schulte has filled the vacated third-grade position.  Emily Ellerbrock has been hired to teach fourth grade. 

With the retirements of fifth-grade teachers Julie Kindred and Mary Edmiston, new staff members Becky Boblitt will teach fifth-grade math and Angie Francis will teach fifth-grade reading. 

At the high school, Nick Rackley is the new social studies teacher; he takes over from the previous teacher Bryant Miller, who moved south to teach.  We welcome each of these new staff members and look forward to working with them for many years to come.

Report card coming in Jaunary

Normally with this newsletter, we would include the 2014-2015 Local State Report Card results; however, we have been told by the Ohio Department of Education that these reports will not be available until January 2016. 

As you may already know, the 2013-2014 report card was excellent for our district with our highest district performance index rating ever at 108.6.

This rating puts our district in the top 4.75% of all districts in the state (29th out of over 600 school districts).  

With this score, our district received an “A” from the state for our performance index, and we are designated an “A” district overall for value-added for 2013-2014.   

As of last year’s report, our district has achieved 100% of the state assessment indicators for the ninth consecutive year.  We are hopeful that when the report card is released in January, we will see similar high-performing scores for our school district. 

These rankings could not be achieved without the combined efforts of parents, students, staff, and community, so please know that your support is appreciated.  We are pleased with these past ratings, and we, the staff at Bluffton Exempted Village Schools, will continue to strive to improve. Our goals are to give our students the best education possible and to prepare our graduates for the next stages of their lives.      

General fund carry-over

The financial report shows our general fund carry-over balance of over $2.6 million for the 2015 fiscal year.  On June 30, we finished our general fund in the black with $77,344.  We have been able to achieve financial stability due to the cost-saving measures that have been put in place over the last several years. 

In fiscal year 2011, we spent $8,641 per student to educate each child. In fiscal year 2014 (the most recent date that statewide comparison expenditure statistics are available), we spent $8,526 per student.  This is $2,386 less than the state average of $10,912 per student in fiscal year 2014. 

As noted above, our district performs within the highest level in the state for much less money on average.  We will continue to look for ways to be fiscally responsible to you, our community, while still providing our students with an excellent education.

Staff professional development

Staff professional development this year will focus on Formative Instructional Practices with emphasis being placed on a highly engaged classroom.  Professional development continues to be important to our staff as we try to give our students the best education possible. 

We will take a close look at the book “The Highly Engaged Classroom,” written by Robert Marzano, Debra Pickering, and Tammy Heflebower.  We believe such motivated and engaged classrooms help students on a daily basis. 

In addition, our staff will be preparing for the new American Institute of Research (AIR) assessments covering math and language arts.  The AIR assessments replace PARCC assessments which were taken in the areas of math and language arts last year.  We already are somewhat familiar with AIR assessments from the Ohio Department of Education since our students took AIR assessments in the areas of social studies and science last year. 

With these new evaluations, the overall time for testing has been reduced, and we are on one technological platform for all measurements.  We are pleased with the reduction of assessment time, which thereby minimizes the distraction to the learning process. 

We will continue the Senior Citizen Breakfast performances each month.  We look forward to seeing those of you who have patronized these performances in the past as well as any newcomers who may join us in this monthly entertainment and fellowship.  Thank you for coming to these performances and thanks to our sponsors for donating the free breakfast. 

As a reminder, when we are back in school, please be careful around all our school buildings if you are walking or driving.  As a driver or a pedestrian, please watch closely at all intersections around our district and proceed with caution. 

It is great to see the number of students participating in athletics, activities, and music programs during the fall season.  The high student interest in these co-curricular and extracurricular activities shows what a vibrant community we have when it comes to the variety of opportunities. 

Please come to our events, when you have time, to see our students in action on the stage, on the playing field, or at quiz bowl events. 
     
As always, we look forward to the privilege and opportunity of educating the students in our district this year. Thank you for your continued support of Bluffton Exempted Village Schools and the students we serve.  If you ever have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to stop in or call me at 419-358-5901. 

Permanent Improvement Projects

Over the course of the past year, our district has completed many different permanent improvement projects.  In each summer’s district newsletter, The Bluffton News, and the Bluffton Icon, we outline the revenue that was brought in from this 1/2% permanent improvement income tax and the projects (along with the cost of each project) completed with these tax dollars. 

Below is the revenue chart of the combined monies brought in by the tax.  Below that is the list of expenditures and projects completed thanks to this fund.

Date                                                 Revenue
Balance Forward from Sept. 2014   $374,951.43
October, 2014                                  $156,451.67
January, 2015                                  $141,232.56
April, 2015                                       $195,809.23
July, 2015                                        $279,570.38

Projects Sept. 2014-Aug. 2015                      Expenditures
Plumbing Repairs and Updates                        $13,135.04
Purchased Parking Lot near Steinmetz Field    $50,000.00
1933 HS-Home Ec/OWE/Office                        $68,383.81
Chromebooks/Technology/Wireless                 $256,101.65
HVAC Repairs Heating and Cooling                 $84,485.44
New Bus                                                           $83,226.00
Outside Grounds Maintenance and Updates    $49,908.36
Window Repair/Replace                                   $13,341.57
Flooring                                                             $22,185.84
Painting                                                             $7,707.73
Furniture and Appliances                                  $19,357.30
Equipment and Repairs                                    $42,052.47
Security and Safety Items                                 $8,706.15
Electric and Lighting Updates                           $12,222.88
Textbooks and Classroom Aids                         $54,295.32
Fence and Roof Repairs                                   $900.72
Elementary Gym Repair/Remodel                    $28,926.00
Elementary Classroom Repair/Remodel           $12,177.78
HS Classroom Repair/Remodel                        $44,671.40

Total                                                                   $871,785.46

Bluffton Schools will continue to use these funds to update our facilities as promised to the taxpayers of this community.  As always, we at Bluffton Schools appreciate the community’s support of our district’s efforts to maintain and improve facilities.   

If you would like to see these improvements in person, please come to our school open house on Sept. 28, or call me to set up a convenient time to view these updates first hand.